Judging Realities
by fanglesspsycho
Summary: After an outrageous end of semester party, Raven OC finds herself pregnant and friendless. James' excessive partying leads him to hire Lily as his "babysitter." What friendships and romances will be forged? M for adult themes and language. L/J and S/OC
1. Pilot Chapter

Judging Realities

Pilot Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. Same old. Same old. You know the deal.

* * *

Lily Evans was not having a good day. She was due at the train station at half past two, giving herself roughly three more hours to finish packing for her last year back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite her obvious joy at returning to her favorite place in the world, she couldn't get the letter she had received that morning out of her mind. Phrases from the dreaded parchment kept flashing through her head, reminding her of the awful news that she was once again behind on loan payments and if she didn't act fast she would be forced to drop out of Hogwarts. It wasn't as if she didn't have other issues to deal with on top of her financial problems; her parents' feuding had risen to an all time high during winter break, Petunia was once again not talking to her and her boyfriend of six months had ended their relationship a mere two weeks ago. Despite being a sixth year, Lily had no one to turn to for help with her problems. By accepting her admittance to Hogwarts six years ago, she had alienated herself from her family and managed to sustain no close friendships. Lily Evans was alone in the world and the one thing that kept her going was about to fall through her fingers if she didn't find a way to sort everything out.

* * *

Raven Slade was NOT having a good day. She was packed and all set for returning to school, but she couldn't block the thoughts she had been having since the dreadful event of last semester. It was like a bad dream that she continued to relive every time she stopped distracting herself. Victoria had been ignoring her phone calls all summer and getting her mother to cover for her whenever Raven dropped by the house. Mia had been ignoring her calls as well. No one wanted to see or talk to Raven. And Jonathan, well Jonathan could rot in hell for all Raven cared. He deserved whatever he had coming to him. And the one person who could fix her situation with a few simple words was refusing to do so, an act that had destroyed her life, but left him completely untouched.

That didn't change the fact of how awful and alone Raven felt or how desperate she was as she sat in the train station bathroom waiting for the results. The box said the test took five minutes and it had been three so far. Raven had to catch the train in ten minutes and just wished the damn test would hurry up. She had been putting it off for the last few weeks, hoping each day that her period would finally come, but it never did. She couldn't wait any longer, even though she knew the worst was already true. As she looked down at the test and the ungodly plus sign it was beginning to display, she couldn't help but shed a couple tears as her worst fears were confirmed; she was pregnant and had no idea what to do about it.

* * *

James Potter was not having a good day. After the end of semester party and James' sloppy behavior that resulted in him getting caught with alcohol for the fifth time that year, his parents had established a zero tolerance policy. He was under close watch and partying was out of the question. After a thorough verbal trashing from his father and a million tears shed by his mother, James was informed that if he stepped out of line again, he would be off to Durmstrang. Durmstrang meant no girls, no friends and no parties, except for those of the pork sword kind. Long story short, Durmstrang was not an option and James was not someone to take things lying down. He may have spent his winter break being the obedient son his parents had always hoped for, but that didn't mean he was going to simply stop having fun; he was just going to work extra hard to make sure he wasn't caught.

* * *

Sirius was having a great day. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the air smelled like freshly cut lawns and clean laundry. He couldn't have created a better day if he had the power to.

"Cheer up old pal. It isn't the end of the world prongsie boy. There are plenty of jolly good things to do while I get in enough partying for the both of us. You could, for instant, read a book or visit the kitchens! Oh how I love the kitchens! If you pick that activity I might even risk my own "life of the party" reputations to join you for a muffin or –- Ooof what'd you do that for mate? Bloody well hurt it did." Sirius complained as he rubbed his arm where James had hit him not moments before.

"You're a right prat Sirius. I hope you know that. Kicking me when I'm down. It's just plain cruel mate. Can't you see I'm wounded here? I mean honestly, it is sixth year. Sixth bloody year and my parents do this to me. I thought I had seen the worst of it by now. I really did, but my parents have sunk to an all time low with this new scheme of theirs. I am doomed to a life of no friends and worst of all, no drunken relations with girls," James moaned as Sirius and he made their way to the train station.

"Well I take offense to that. I am in disbelief that you think so low of me that I would simply drop you as a friend because of your predicament. Now look here, did I or did I not just volunteer to accompany you to the kitchens during a party? How much greater of a friend could I be mate?" Sirius replied in mock offense, making James smile in spite of himself.

"I guess you're right. It's just so frustrating. I spent the break brooding and I haven't even come up with a way to deceive my parents. You would think after years of marauding it would take mere moments to establish a plan, but the one time I truly need it, my mind is blank. Sixth year is looking worse and worse by the moment."

"What you need is a chocolate frog. Come along now Jamsie boy. The frogs are this way," Sirius chimed, ignoring James' awful mood as the boys reached the train.

Sirius was determined to let nothing ruin his great day and if that meant pampering James out of his girly, brooding mood then Sirius was going to take the job on 120%. His friends had been downers all summer and Sirius was determined to start the year off right.

* * *

Remus had spent the summer being horribly depressed and even more indecisive. He couldn't get his confrontation with Jonathan out of his mind and the look in Raven's eyes had haunted him every time he tried to sleep. He had to give his friends credit for all the effort they had made to cheer him up, but alas it was to no use. Remus couldn't stop hating himself for what he had done, or rather what he had not done. By protecting himself, he had ruined someone else's life. He didn't know the full details, but from what he had gathered without trying to seem suspicious was that Raven had been dumped by all her friends and that virtually no one had even talked to her the whole break. It wasn't a situation he was proud to be responsible for.

The only comfort Remus had was Emma, his girlfriend of one year. Despite all that was going on with him, Emma was still able to make him laugh and smile from time to time, a feat he greatly appreciated. Although they got along well and were deeply in love, he couldn't ignore the fact that it was because of his secret and his fear of Emma finding it out that he had kept his mouth shut about what happened to Raven. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to tell Emma. It was just that every time he sat her down to finally come clean, he would look into those innocent almond eyes filled with adoration for him and he couldn't do it. He would freeze up and couldn't utter a word. Eventually her eyes would become concerned and she would ask him what is wrong. And all he could do, all he could ever do was whisper, "It's nothing. I love you," and promise himself that next time he would have the courage to tell her.

As always, that is what Remus was pondering when Sirius and James boarded the train and pushing their way into the Marauders' typical compartment, laden with chocolate frogs.

"Oi mate!" Sirius shouted and then proceeded to trip over one of Remus' discarded shoes on the compartment floor and send his chocolate frogs soaring.

Pushing his negative thoughts from his mind for the moment, Remus let himself relax and laugh as Sirius flailed around on the floor.

"Where's Pete?" James asked as he ignored Sirius and plopped himself down next to Remus and began to eat one of the chocolate frogs.

"I haven't seen him yet," Remus replied and grabbed a chocolate frog for himself.

"He'll find us. We have more pressing matters to deal with," Sirius informed the other two as he finally got himself situated on the other seat. "As you are aware Remus, Prongsie's social standing is in danger. You being the intellectual of the group, makes it your priority and obligation to solve said problem. We need some sort of person to watch James at parties and make sure he behaves himself and gets home all safe and in one piece," Sirius mocked and reached over to pinch James' check. "We have to make sure our special boy doesn't get caught partying."

"So basically you want me to find you a babysitter for James? Sorry, but last time I checked Hogwarts didn't have a daycare," Remus laughed.

"You, Moony, are a genius! A babysitter is just what we need," Sirius marveled, his eyes glinting.

"Mate, I'm not two years old. I don't need my diaper changed and I most certainly do not need a babysitter," James replied.

"Look Prongs, I just mean that we need someone to watch your back and get you to your room at the end of the party so that you don't pass out somewhere weird and get caught by McGonagall again. Remember how pissed she was when you puked on that statue near Gryffindor tower and she found you the next morning passed out by it? Legendary," Sirius said and laughed.

"I guess," James mumbled. "But who would want to spend their time being sober and watching me rather than party themselves? No one."

Just then Lily Evans knocked on their compartment door. She opened the door and turned to Remus and said, "Prefects meeting in five minutes Remus. Rachel asked me to tell you." She then shut the door and left.

"Now that is the kind of person who would do it. All she cares about is studying. I don't think I have seen her go to a party once, let alone have a drink. She is a complete wet blanket, but perfect for the job," Sirius said, grinning at the Marauder's new found fortune.

"As horrible as it is to ruin your fun Sirius, I have to inform you that you are only half right. Yes, all Lily cares about it studying and therefore why in her right mind would she want to spend her time watching James doing something as pointless as get drunk and puke his guts out? Taking care of someone else is not something Lily does, especially when it doesn't involve her directly. Anyways, I have a meeting to make. I'll catch up with you guys later," Remus said and left the compartment.

"Rats," Sirius muttered. "I thought I was finally on to something. Sorry Prongs."

"It's alright mate. Maybe I'll just have to lie low for the semester," James replied gloomily.

* * *

Remus made his way to the prefects compartment where everyone had already gathered. Rachel, the Gryffindor head girl smiled and him and called the meeting to order. The normal issues were addressed and after about thirty minutes, the meeting was finally called to closing. The prefects begin to file out until only Remus and Lily were left in the compartment. Lily, the scribe for the meeting, was still busy putting all her things back into order in her bag. Remus, on the other hand, had once again gotten caught up in his thoughts towards the end of the meeting and lost track of time.

Lily, finally getting her stuff away, looked up and noticed Remus sitting there. She cleared her throat. "Umm Remus? You do know that the meeting is over right?"

Remus, coming back to the present, shook his head slightly. "Yeah sorry. Just thinking."

As Remus jumped, he accidently knocked Lily's bag over, spilling its contents all over the floor. "Crap. I'm so sorry Lily. Let me help you with that," Remus apologized as he bent over and helped Lily gather her things.

As Remus staked the papers together, he couldn't help noticing one particular piece of parchment: Lily's overdue loan payment notice. Lily saw him staring at it and followed his eyes, suddenly realizing what it was. "Here just give it to me Remus. You shouldn't have seen that."

"Look Lily, are you in some kind of trouble? I know we aren't exactly friends and that this isn't any of my business, but I respect you and if you are having financial trouble, you should talk to someone about it," Remus replied, concerned.

"I'm fine Remus. It's nothing. I'm just a little behind on my payments. I got fired over break and I just haven't had time to find a job yet. Things will work out. They always do," Lily replied, her words trailing off sadly.

It was then that a thought dawned on Remus. Maybe this whole babysitting thing could work out. If Lily needed money then she could have an incentive for watching out for James while he partied. It was highly unlikely that Lily would agreed to it, but the least he could do was try. "This might seem like a ridiculous suggestion to you, but I think that I might actually have a solution to you problem Lily." Her eyes became hopeful as Remus continued. "Look, you and everyone else knows how ridiculous and out of hand James partying is. His parents gave him an ultimatum over break and if he gets caught partying or drinking again then he is going to be sent to Durmstrang. I'm sure if I asked James, he would be more than welcome to pay you to take care or him and make sure that he doesn't get caught or let things get out of hand while he parties. All you'll have to do is watch out for him and make sure he gets back to his room at the end of the night. So what do you think? Don't say anything until you have thought it over."

At first thought, Lily found the whole idea ridiculous. James was a sixteen-year-old boy who had a partying reputation that was only trumped by Sirius. Despite not being the most social person, Lily was well aware of his reputation and didn't think that watching over him was the most valuable use of her time. On the other hand, James was not short on money and money was something that Lily desperately needed at the moment. It wasn't like by saying yes she was entering into some binding contract. She could always back out if something better came along. "Ok, yes. I'll do it. But under no circumstances will I be cleaning up vomit or supervising sexual acts. And if this doesn't work out at any point, don't hesitate to think that I will not back out in a second," Lily warned Remus.

Shocked and not trying to hide it, Remus agreed and brought Lily back to the Marauder's compartment to make the rules of the arrangement clear to James.

* * *

A/N – So that is the first chapter. Thoughts? Comments? Encouragement? Let me know what you think. I haven't written a fanfiction in a really long time (several years) so I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I have a couple other chapters already written and I am aiming to update this roughly once every one to two weeks. Stay tuned to find out about James and Lily's arrangement, Remus' secret and Raven's predicament.

Until then

~fanglesspsychco~


	2. Forging Friendships

Second Chapter: Forging Friendships

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. Same old. Same old. You know the deal.

**_Chapter One (Pilot) Recap:_**

**_Lily Evans is behind on her loan payments and is at risk of being kicked out of Hogwarts. James Potter's partying lifestyle has made it so that if he gets caught drinking one more time then he will be forced to transfer to Durmstrang. To fix both their situations, Lily has agreed to babysit James during parties. Raven Slade found out that she is pregnant, on top of being dumped by all her previous friends. Remus Lupin is the only one who can set Raven's situation correct, but he won't step up for fear that his secret will get out and his relationship with his girlfriend, Emma Marsh, will be ruined. Sirius Black is, as always, Sirius Black. _**

* * *

Once Lily had finished speaking with the Marauder's, she had returned to her compartment. She had allowed herself to pass out for remainder of the train ride and awoke about ten minutes before the train was due to arrive at Hogwarts. She quickly went to change into her robes and returned to gather her things just as the train arrived. She made her way out of the train with all the other students and followed the rush as everyone ran to get a carriage with their friends. As always, Lily lagged behind and took whichever carriage was left once everyone else has sorted themselves out. This time she found herself sharing a carriage with a shy fourth year boy from Hufflepuff, a studious fifth year girl from Ravenclaw and another sixth year Gryffindor like herself, Raven Slade.

Despite usually steering clear of drama and gossip, Lily couldn't help staring at Raven. The girl looked lost and distraught and she stared longingly after the carriage that carried her former friends: Victoria, Mia, Colette, Jonathan and Brent. Lily didn't know everything about what had happened to Raven, but from what she had overheard from other conversations and witnessed in the legendary common room fight was that Raven had seduced Victoria's boyfriend Jonathan at the end of the semester party. As far as Lily knew, Victoria and Mia, Raven's two best friends, had completely stopped talking to her and that no one would even give her the time of day. Lily couldn't help feeling bad for the girl, even though the rumors could be true.

The carriages soon arrived at Hogwarts and the students began to head to the great hall for the their first meal back at Hogwarts. Once gathered in the hall, Dumbledore welcomed the students back from break and wished them luck and they continued to the remainder of their studies for the year. Once finished speaking, Dumbledore sat and the food appeared, the students happily digging into the meal.

Raven quickly ate her dinner, just wanted to get out of the Great Hall and get away from the stares and dirty looks that were directed at her. School had never made her as uncomfortable as it did now and she just wanted to get out and get back to her room, even though she knew that once Victoria and Mia returned from dinner, she would be as unwelcome in her room as she was in the Great Hall. It didn't matter to her at the moment though, she just needed to get out of there as fast as she could.

Once done eating, Raven quickly gathered her things and made her way along the table. Unnoticed by her, someone stuck their foot out and tripped her, sending her belongings flying. The table soon erupted in laughter and giggles, Raven's face turning beet red.

"It figures Raven would fall since we know she isn't any good on her feet. She would rather spend all her time on back," Victoria snidely commented as Raven gathered her books. "What a total slut."

Raven turned away, trying to hide her embarrassment and not taking Victoria's bate. If she rose to Victoria's words then she would only be making it worse for herself. More people at the table laughed at the comment, but Mia was totally silent. She looked at Raven with pity but made no move to stand up for her or help her out. Surprisingly it was Lily Evans who came to Raven's defense.

Lily got up from where she was sitting a couple seats down and helped Raven pick her things up. "Leave her alone Victoria. You are just so mature sitting there with people supporting you while you make snide comments about someone who was wrongfully knocked to the ground. Grow up and find something better to do with you life. And as to calling Raven a slut, regardless of whether or not she slept with your boyfriend, it would be good of you to not hold her up to a double standard since you are still dating Jonathan despite the fact that it takes two people to have sex." With that, Lily helped Raven to her feet and guided her out of the great hall, leaving Victoria with a gob smacked expression and everyone else whispering about how Lily Evans, the quiet, coolheaded prefect had just blown up at Victoria Dawn.

Once outside the Great Hall, Lily had Raven sit down so that she could calm down. Raven was freaking out slightly and had immediately started crying the second the pair had passed through the doors of the great hall. Once Raven had quieted down, Lily asked, "Are you ok? That wasn't right what those girls did back there."

"It wasn't all of them and it wasn't surprising either. I've been expecting things like this to happen the second we arrived back at school," Raven replied.

"Just because you were expecting it doesn't mean it won't hurt. I've dealt with my own fair share of humiliation to know the truth in that," Lily said, taking a seat next to Raven.

"Thanks for standing up for me," Raven said. "I didn't have the guts to defend myself. I've also gotten fairly sick of saying it wasn't my fault."

"It's always easier to cover for someone else rather than yourself. Anyways, someone was nice to me earlier today and I figured I would just pass on the favor. It isn't right how they all just ganged up on you like that."

Raven scoffed, "You think that's bad? Just wait for tonight. It will be me, Mia and Victoria all cozy in our room together, ready to start of a semester of degrading comments and probable sabotage."

"Wait you are still living with them?" Lily questioned, shocked.

"Yeah. Where else would I be staying? I haven't had a chance to see if there are any other beds open," Raven replied.

"There is one in my room. My and Colette's roommate changed rooms two weeks before break started. I mean I know that Colette is one of your old friends and can be just as much of a bitch as Victoria, but at least you only have to deal with one person ignoring you, rather than two. Plus Colette is hardly ever in the room. She is usually off partying or with whatever boy is the flavor of the week. I mean it's just a thought. You can do whatever you want," Lily offered, not being accustomed to helping someone, let alone actually carrying on a friendly conversation.

Raven couldn't help it and started crying again; it was the first time was being nice to her, outside of her family, since the end of semester party. It especially meant a lot given the news she had confirmed earlier that day. "Thank you Lily. That's really sweet of you. I'm sorry that I'm such a blubbering mess. I didn't use to be this way."

"It's fine. Let's just go get your stuff sorted before everyone finishes eating," Lily replied.

With that, Lily and Raven headed to Gryffindor tower to go sort out the new living situation. For the first time in awhile, something finally seemed to being going right for Raven

* * *

The Marauders dragged a reluctant Sirius from the Great Hall. "Guys there were still so many foods I hadn't sampled yet," Sirius pouted.

"Since when do you sample a food, mate? More like you shove it down your throat," James laughed, finding.

"I find that oddly flattering," Sirius replied. "But it is time to address matters of sheer importance; we need to plan our customary return to campus party. And now that Jamsie here has a babysitter, we can have the party be as reckless as normal."

"Do you really have to remind me that I am being babysat by Lily Evans? She is a total drag," James moaned.

"Be nice Prongs. Lily is nice and she will take good care of you," Remus chided.

"Ugh fine. I guess everything comes with a price. Let's just keep the fact that Lily is babysitting me between us. If other people find this out then it could ruin my rep," James replied.

"Agreed. Now stop talking about yourself and start talking about my party of magical wonders," Sirius replied, getting a faraway look in his eyes.

"Well go ahead and share your dream with us," Remus sighed.

"So I'm thinking that we should have it next weekend once everyone has settled in. It will be hosted in the Gryffindor common room, obviously. I know for a fact that the head boy and girl will be at an all night meeting so we don't have to worry about them. I have also already taken care of bribing all the prefects that would typically tattle. I also sent a food request to the kitchen elves via owl yesterday. All we need is alcohol which I can have Peter go get. Remus you will be on spell casting to make the common room sound proof and James you will be in charge of publicity," Sirius grinned, happy with his planning.

"And what will you be doing while we get all the work done?" James questioned.

"I will be basking in the glory of it all and probably making out with someone if you must know," Sirius replied as the boys made their way into the Gryffindor common room and crashed on the couch by the fire.

"Oh really and who might this someone be?" Remus chuckled.

"Well Remus dear pal, there are many fish in the sea and I do love to go fishing," Sirius replied, eyes glinting mischievous.

* * *

Victoria, Mia, Colette, Jonathan and Brent, once finished with their dinner, made their way to Gryffindor tower. No one wanted to address what had happened in the great hall, for worry that Victoria might blow up again. Her normal bitchiness had risen to an all time high over winter break with the only person able to rival her in attitude being Colette. It wasn't all Victoria's fault or at least that's what she kept telling herself every time she felt somewhat bad about what she had done to Raven. Raven had slept with Jonathan after all and Raven knew how much Jonathan meant to her. Sleeping with one of your best friends' boyfriend was just something you didn't do. It was against the whole girl code and just common decency in general. And if Victoria had been wrong then how come Mia and Colette were on her side? Everything pointed to the fact that Victoria was justified in her actions, or at least this is what she was thinking to herself as their group climbed through the portrait hole.

"Oooh the marauders," Colette cooed as she noticed James, Sirius and Remus sprawled out by the fireplace. "James has gotten so gorgey lately. I could just eat him up."

"Ha, please," Mia scoffed. "Let's be honest here Colette. It is more like you would devour him and rip him to shreds. You are ruthless when it comes to you and boys. Once you pick a target, they might as well just sit back and enjoy the ride because there is nothing they can do about it."

"Mia has a point there, sis," Brent pointed out as he reached for Mia's hand and they met eyes and smiled.

"Well I'm sorry that we all can't be the perfect little couple that you two are," Colette gagged. "I'd rather play the field. Toodles darlings." And with that, Colette glided off towards the Marauders and flopped herself down next to James. "Hello boys," she said, looking at James innocently.

"Hi Colette," Remus, Sirius and James chorused. "How was your break?" Remus asked.

"Oh just the usual: doting parents and ballet practice. If I didn't know that it was impossible I would think that I had managed to get even more flexible over break," Colette said with her gaze flirtatiously directed at James. "Now if you boys don't mind, I'd like to borrow James here for a…talk…shall we say?"

"Ha. Be my guest. Just make sure you get Jamsie here back at a reasonable hour. I wouldn't want my snookums missing out on any of his beauty sleep," Sirius snickered.

Colette laughed and jumped up, dragged James off down one of the hallways. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Sirius yelled after James. "Oh our little boy is all grown up," Sirius said turning to Remus while he faked tearing up.

"Oh shove it Padfoot. Just go back to focusing on your party. Oh there's Emma. I'll catch you later mate," Remus replied as he saw his girlfriend enter the common room and left to go say hi.

* * *

Lily and Raven had managed to have Raven completely moved in, in under 30 minutes. "I think it the fastest I have ever unpacked in my life," Raven joked as she moved the last of her clothes into the school provided dresser. "My clothes usually sit around for a week before I manage to get them all put away."

"I usually have nothing better to do than unpack," Lily joked, somewhat sadly. She was surprised to actually find herself enjoying Raven's company, something she previously would not have found possible. Raven had always been one of the more popular girls who dating boys, went to parties, and indulged herself in shopping with girlfriends. Lily on the other hand dedicated seventy percent of her time to school, twenty-five percent to sleep and five percent to herself. Interacting with other people was something Lily rarely did outside of group work in the classroom.

"That can't be true," Raven replied, trying to be cheerful. "You have to have people you hang out with. I've seen you with Alice before and you and Remus seem to get along just fine."

"I guess. I've just always been more…independent," Lily said.

"Well at least I will have a role model for my new independent lifestyle," Raven joked. "You must have insider knowledge of all the best things to do by oneself and maybe since I'm alone and you are alone then we could do some alone things not alone," Raven suggested tentatively.

Lily laughed. "Sure, but we will first have to broaden your vocabulary since it seems you only know the word alone."

Raven cracked a smile at Lily and thought about how maybe this semester wasn't going to turn out as bad as she thought. Just because her life had mostly been destroyed didn't mean she had to give up and take things lying down. Maybe her and Lily could be the true friend that neither currently had.

* * *

A/N – And the second chapter is here. I know I promised that like a summer ago, but my summer was ridiculous. Enough excuses though. I will try my hardest to update more often. Stay tuned for the development of new friendships, the beginning of the semester party and another Victoria/Raven confrontation.

Until then,

~fanglesspsycho~


	3. Party Lead Up

Third Chapter: Party Lead Up

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. Same old. Same old. You know the deal.

**_Chapter Two (Forging Friendships) Recap:_**

**_Lily Evans stands up for Raven Slade when the later is bullied by her previous group of friends. The two begin to establish a friendship. By the urging of Sirius Black, the Marauders begin to plan their legendary beginning of the semester party, while James Potter continues to complain about being forced to be babysat. Colette Daniels sets her eyes on James—could a relationship result?_**

* * *

The first week after winter break passed quickly for everyone. Students were loaded with homework, as always, and in their off time, everyone could only talk about the upcoming party that Sirius was planning. The Marauders, on Sirius's instruction, had been over every detail twice and with only a day left before the event, were going over it for a third time.

"Now one more time Peter!" Sirius dictated from the center of the boys' dorm. "What will be the selection of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, for the party?"

Peter, in his normal, squeaky voice, informed the group, "I managed to track down five cases of butterbeer, two cases of firewisky, an unlimited supply of pumpkin juice from the house elves and four handles of vodka. It's this muggle alcohol I tried for the first time over break that burns going down like firewisky, but goes excellent with juice."

"Check drinks off the list," Sirius said to Remus, who replied with an eye roll since drinks had already been checked off twice. "Now Remus, dictate to me the state of the current spells in the common room."

"Let's see, I have set several alarm spells near the portrait hole, as well as further away to give us a fair warning if the head boy and girl are to return early from their meeting, or worse, if McGonagall comes lurking. The spells are set to make our wristbands warm up at the first trigger and get increasingly hot as the intruder gets closer. I made an extra one for Lily that you can pass along to her, James. I have also thoroughly soundproofed the common room and have charmed the cleaning supplies to fix any messes the second they are made. Also, a personal favorite, the portrait hole is charmed to cast Furnunculus on any Slytherin that tries to enter. The boils that result are immune to healing and will leave scarring when they finally go away after a week." Remus finished, smiling over his accomplishments.

"Very well done," Sirius said, getting more excited as their planning got closer to an end. "Now James, inform us again on your work with publicity."

"I have invited the entire Gryffindor house, with a few invites sent to select Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. There is a cover charge of one gallon for each male and each out of house member who is planning on drinking. Gryffindor females drink free. I have also taken the initiative of hiring several house elves to bartend for us, as well as one to collect the cover charges. For particularly important guests, I have delivered the invitations in person, all other invitations were sent via owls," James repeated for the third time that evening. "Don't you think that we have been over this enough Padfoot?"

"You can never cover party details too many times!" Sirius exclaimed. "And for the last order of business; I, Sirius Black, have organized a delightful selection of food. It will be delivered by the house elves 15 minutes prior to the party, which is sundown if you fools need to be reminded, and will be regularly stocked every hour until the party fizzles out. And I think that is everything," Sirius said finishing off and then paused.

"Wait!" Sirius shouted. "I almost forgot! Dear Prongsie boy, when will your babysitter be showing up to watch over you?" he sniggered.

James groaned and threw a pillow at Sirius who quickly dodged it. "I actually don't know. I haven't really talked to her. I mean its Lily Evans," James shuddered.

"Be nice mate," Remus said, lying in his bed as he put the finishing touches on his potions essay. "She's really nice once you get to know her."

"She's really nice once you get to know her," Sirius mocked. "You know what is really nice? A bedwarmer and I don't mean of the blanket variety. I mean of the human variety and a bedwarmer is exactly what I will be getting at this party tonight because I have only made out with three girls since we have gotten back to school! Three girls! It is a shame that this bed of mine has remained so cold for so long," Sirius finished and dramatically wiped a fake tear from his eyes.

"Oh hush you prat. Stop being so dramatic," James sighed.

"You are one to talk. You don't need to be dramatic because you have Colette fulfilling your every desire," Sirius pouted. "You have your every need met while I have to labor over finding a girl to toy with."

"You can hardly call it laboring Padfoot," Remus cut in. "I mean just at dinner tonight you had ten different girls come up and practically offer themselves to you. I think I even saw one of them drooling at some point."

"Ugh, but I've already been with like nine of them. They are old news. I need fresh meat." Sirius complained.

"Well then I guess I can see what you mean about it being a hard task. You probably have like five more girls left before you will start having to hook up with guys in order to be with someone new," Remus mocked, causing Sirius to pout.

"Don't give me the puppy dog eyes, Padfoot. You brought this upon yourself," Remus laughed.

Sirius, not one to stay focused for two long, returned to talking about James, "Anyways, back to the matter at hand. James, your task for tomorrow is to talk to Lily and make sure that she can babysit for the party. How much are you paying her anyway?"

James, still a little uncomfortable about the setup, replied, "For weekends, 5 galleons per hour until midnight and 10 galleons per hour after midnight, with partying until 5 AM at the latest. For school nights, 10 galleons per hour until 11 PM and 15 galleons per hour after that, with partying until 3 AM at the latest. I feel like I have a mother."

"Hey, its better than nothing," Sirius said, trying to look on the bright side. "Plus, you cannot put a price on the amount of legendary that will be happening tomorrow. Don't worry mate, it will all be worth it."

With that, Sirius, great care provider that he was, insisted that everyone go to sleep in order to have maximum energy for the party tomorrow. He refused to have his besties exhausted for what was sure to be the highlight of the first week back at Hogwarts.

* * *

While the Marauders had been conversing in their dorm, Lily and Raven had been studying in theirs. Much to their pleasure, Colette was not present, having left a few hours early with instructions to "not wait up for her since she would be having a girls night with people more worthy of her time and attention than Lily and Raven." Lily and Raven, although now friendly, weren't exactly best friends. They sat in companionable silence working on homework, as had been usual for the past week.

As Lily finished up her potions essay, Raven broke the silence, "So I hear that there is going to a party tomorrow night."

"Don't remind me," Lily replied grumpily, unable to hide her annoyance at the reminder of the party.

Confused, Raven continued, "Do you really hate parties that much?"

"Yes and no. They are alright except for the fact that James and Sirius just throw them to get girls intoxicated and then dry hump with half of Gryffindor tower," Lily replied, disgusted.

Raven had to laugh since she obviously couldn't argue. "I guess I can see your point. Are you going to go? I'm not really sure if I should, especially after everything…" Raven trailed off, not really wanting to talk about what had happened last semester.

"I wouldn't if I had a choice," Lily muttered. "But I have to; I have a job."

"How do you have a job that you have to do at the party? Are you like a bartender or something?" Raven probed, half joking and half genuinely confused.

Lily, getting more uncomfortable as the conversation got closer to uncovering her agreement with James, figured if she were going to tell anyone, Raven was probably the least dangerous person to tell. "If I tell you this, you have to promise that you will not speak a word of it to anyone."

"Who would I tell? Its not like I really have anyone to tell," Raven joked, sadly.

"I guess you have a point," Lily replied, in a lighter tone than she had been using before. "I am in a very odd arrangement. I guess the best way to describe my job is that I will be babysitting James Potter."

Shocked, Raven remained speechless for a minute. "As in the James Potter? As in Sirius and James? That James Potter?" Raven finally managed to ask.

"The one and only," Lily replied glumly.

"How the hell did that happen? Better yet why would you agree to something like that? Or rather why would James even ask for something like that?" Raven asked, unaware where to begin.

"I was only told the most basic version of the story, but basically James's parents are unhappy with how much he parties, or rather how many times he has gotten caught intoxicated by the school. If he gets caught one more time then they are going to transfer him to Durmstrang. That's where I come in; I am being paid to take care of him and make sure he gets to bed safe every night so that he doesn't end up passed out somewhere weird and caught by McGonagall." Lily informed Raven.

"Wow, just wow. I'm sort of at a loss for words," Raven replied.

"Yeah, I am too. It all just sort of happened. Remus asked me and then we all talked in over and now I'm a pretty much a babysitter for a sixteen year old boy who can't control himself. Life couldn't get weirder." Lily said.

"Well it makes for quite a story," Raven replied, wanting to ask why Lily had agreed in the first place, but not sure it was appropriate. The pair got along rather nicely, but a week of companionable friendship didn't exactly equate to spilling your deep dark secrets. It wasn't like Raven was going to come out and tell Lily that she was pregnant.

"Yeah I guess. It will pretty much be a waste of an evening, but at least I will be getting paid to waste my evening. Are you planning on going?" Lily asked, everything instantly becoming uncomfortable with the unspoken implication about the last party Raven had been to.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I emotionally could or rather I'm not sure I would even want to. I mean Victoria will be there and Colette and Mia…and Jonathan," Raven added, disgust evident in her voice. "If I went, I would probably just be harassed by them, but if I don't I will just spend the night sitting up here while I hear everything that is going on downstairs for the whole night. I probably won't be able to sleep and all I will be thinking about is the last party and I don't know if I can handle being alone with my thoughts about that."

All the words were out before Raven even realized she was saying them and she couldn't take them back. They hung there uncomfortably in the air and Lily didn't say anything. She didn't really know what to say so she just looked down at the parchment in her hand, her finished potions essay that she had yet to put away.

Unable to take the silence any longer and seeing that Raven clearly needed someone to reach out to her, Lily made the only offering she could think of, "You could always just hang out with me. I mean it isn't like I will be drinking or doing anything fun. I'll just be watching over James Potter like he is my ward, but I guess it would be better than doing nothing."

"Thanks Lily. It really means a lot to me," Raven said and wondered for the millionth time that week why her and Lily had never really spoken before until now.

* * *

The next day all anyone could talk about was the party later that evening. Guys couldn't stop joking about whom they were going to hook up with and girls couldn't stop discussing what they were going to wear. It seemed that most excited people, outside of James and Sirius, were Victoria and Colette. The pair was sitting in the great hall, waiting for Jonathan, Mia and Brent to show up for dinner as they discussed the party that was three hours away from happening.

"So darling," Colette began, "do you think that I should wear my gold miniskirt, my white miniskirt or my jean shorts? I am definitely wearing my black handkerchief shirt, you know the one with the open back, but I cannot decide what bottoms to wear. I'm also thinking that I should wear my gold gladiator sandals. Anyways, tell me what you think."

"Definitely go with the jean shorts," Victoria informed Colette. "It will make your outfit look more casual, but I'm loving everything so far. I was thinking about wearing my bohemian dress, the medium-length red one. I think it will look perfect if I wear my hair down and wavy."

"Absolutely," Colette agreed. "You should borrow my gold bangles to go with it and my other pair of gold gladiators. We are going to look amazing. Is Mia going tonight?"

"Ugh, don't mention her," Victoria complained. "She made up some stupid excuse about having homework, but seriously? It's a Friday night. That means that you have a whole weekend to do homework and I am in like over half of her classes and I'm going. I know that she is just being a little drama queen and will feel guilty if she sees stupid, slutty Raven at the party. I don't know why we were ever friends with her and I'm starting to question why we are even friends with Mia."

"Don't be so harsh. If my brother is into Mia then she can't be completely bad. You know she just takes everything more difficulty than we do. Unlike her we can see when someone is poison and an awful friend. I still can't believe that Raven tried to steal Jonathan out from under you like that. What a two-timing whore. And to think it happened even we have been friends for almost seven years," Colette sympathized. "I don't know how you took it as well as you did. If she tried to ruin one of my relationships, I would have lost control."

Victoria, sick of talking about Raven, decided to change the subject, "Oh trust me, I am still not over it and there is no way I will ever let her forget what she did, but speaking of relationships, you and James have seemed rather friendly this past week. Do I sense a romance brewing?"

"Possible," Colette casually replied, but couldn't stop herself from grinning. "Oh it was bound to happen sometime even though you know James and Sirius aren't the relationship type. I can't really blame them since it isn't as if I am the relationship type either. Seriously though, I can't keep this from you any longer. I definitely think that James is going to be my boyfriend of the semester. I mean all signs point to go for it; he is one of the most popular guys in our grade, he is ridiculously good-looking, he's super smart, which means I will finally be able to ace transfiguration and to top it off, he is an amazing kisser. And I am definitely not exaggerating when it comes to that last part."

"I cannot believe you kept this from me this long. I know you two have been sneaking around all week but I didn't realize that this was heading in the boyfriend direction. Has he asked you out yet or are you planning on asking him?" Victoria question.

Colette laughed, "Vikki, you of all people know that I never ask boys out. I just string them along until they decide that they just cannot live without me. James is no different and I have a feeling that if he doesn't ask me tonight then it shouldn't be more than a week before he actually does. God it feels good to be wanted."

"Oh hush you little slut," Victoria joked. "You guys are going to make the cutest couple. I also demand that we double date once you seal the deal."

"Honey you know that it will have to be a triple date because Brent and Mia will feel bad if they don't get to tag along." Colette replied.

"I guess you have a point, although I stand by what I said before; I honestly don't understand why we are still friends with her when it is so obvious that she thinks we are being the bitches in this whole Raven situation. If she weren't dating your twin brother, you know that we would not even give her the time of day," Victoria said.

"You are just so critical, but I'm not going to say that you are wrong. It was Raven who brought her into our crowd and now Raven is so very out. Let's talk about something else, though, because I see her, Brent and Jonathan coming in now. We don't want to hurt any feelings and ruin the good time before the party has even start, now do we?" Colette replied and began to serve herself as food appeared and the other three joined her and Victoria at the table.

* * *

The marauders sat further down the Gryffindor table from Colette and Victoria. Sirius was barely able to contain his excitement and was repeatedly bouncing up and down on the bench while stuff is face.

"Can you please sit still for at least a minute," Remus asked, as he neatly cut up his food.

"Moony, you know how impossible that request is. I mean three hours! There are only three hours left until I can bask in sin!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh, please. You are always basking in sin," Remus sniggered and turned back to his food.

Just then, Lily and Raven entered the dining hall and made their way to their typical seats, passing the marauders on their way. "Pst, Prongs," Sirius whispered. "Now is your chance to talk to Evans."

"Oh alright," James replied, clearly annoyed, and got up from his seat to go speak with Lily.

Raven and Lily were discussing charms when James approached. Raven saw him first and blushed, but Lily just look agitated when she followed Raven's eyes to find James the source of the blushing.

"Hey Evans," James said as he plopped himself down on the bench next to Lily and took a slice of bread off her plate.

"Potter," Lily acknowledged him, picking up his sole use of last names.

"So about tonight…" James began.

"I'll be in the common room at 9. I'm not getting involved in any of your uncouth behavior and I most certainly will not be holding your hair if you puke, chaperoning your hormonal indiscretions, or cleaning up your messes. I'll keep an eye on you and when the party starts to fizzle out, I'll take you to bed," Lily stated simply. "Do you understood?"

"Yeah that sounds…great," James replied, sarcastically. "Just don't let on that you are taking care of me to anyone, or at least anyone other than Sirius, Remus, Peter and sure, Raven."

"Fine by me," Lily agreed. "Just make sure I'm not caught in an awkward situation with you and your dirty mistress of choice tonight. Anyways, you should go now. We are being glared at by the friendliest people in school," Lily finished, sarcastically as she caught Colette glaring daggers at her, Raven and James.

James, seeing whom Lily was gesturing to, decided it was a good time to make his exit. "Alright. Well I guess I will catch you guys later tonight," and with that, James got up and headed back to the marauders.

* * *

A/N – And that is the third chapter. Originally I was going to have the party is the chapter, but I decided against it. Sorry. I promise the next chapter will include the party and lots of drama. Please review!

Until then,

~fanglesspsycho~


	4. Confrontations

Fourth Chapter: Confrontations

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. Same old. Same old. You know the deal.

**_Chapter Three (Party Lead Up) Recap:_**

**_The Marauders put the finishing touches on their beginning of semester party. Lily Evans reveals her babysitting setup with James Potter to Raven Slade. Victoria Dawn and Colette Daniels ponder the importance of Mia Billards as their friend and Colette admits to her brewing relationship with James._**

* * *

After returning from dinner, Lily had gone about religiously cleaning the room to distract herself from the near future. Raven had perched herself on her own bed and proceeded to doodle in her notebook for over an hour. Colette had appeared for roughly ten minutes. She had grabbed clothes, makeup, and hair accessories and then honored Lily and Raven with a disgusted look before she left. Colette had headed down the hall to where Victoria was waiting for her.

"I'm back," Colette sang as she entered the room with all her party supplies.

"Hurry up!" Victoria complained from over by the mirror. "We have under an hour and my hair is only half finished."

"Don't frown. It makes your left eye look lazy," Colette order Victoria.

"Are you serious?" Victoria screeched.

"No, but it serves you right for hurrying me," Colette sniggered as she dropped all her stuff onto the bed that had previously belonged to Raven. Mia laughed, but tried to turn it into a cough when Victoria gave her a dirty look.

"I just want to look perfect for tonight Coco. Is that too much to ask? I need this night to be great. I need it to be perfect," Victoria sighed.

"I know honey. Here give me the curling iron. Mia, can you paint my nails while I finish Vikki's hair?" Colette asked, but turned away without asking for an answer.

Mia put her books aside and mumbled, "Sure," grabbing the gold nail polish from the bed.

"Make sure you stay on the nail. Last time you made her nails look gross," Victoria chastised.

"No need to be mean, Victoria. You made yourself perfectly clear earlier," Mia snapped.

Colette gave Victoria a questioning look in the mirror as Mia began to paint her nails. "I'll explain later," Victoria mouthed to Colette, rolling her eyes at Mia. Colette nodded, still looking confused.

"And you can paint my nails heartbreaker red when you finish with Colette's," Victoria directed and went back to flipping through her fashion magazine.

The remaining hour continued much in the same fashion until Victoria and Colette were both completely pampered and ready for the party. Mia was sick of being in the same room with both of them, especially after what happened once Colette had left to get her stuff. She knew that Victoria had always been a mean person; Mia had just never had the "privilege" of having that meanness turned on her. Not an hour ago, when Colette had left the room, Victoria had turned to Mia and said things that Mia didn't even want to think about. Despite this desire, she could not stop reliving the scene over and over again:

"Mia, I need to talk to you," Victoria said, putting on a fake friendly voice as she motioned Mia to come over to get.

_Unaware of what was about to transpire, Mia obliged and joined Victoria by the mirror. "Sure. What's the problem, Vikki?" Mia asked._

_"I've noticed that you've really been struggling with accepting what Raven did, especially since you were the closest to her, but you need to understand that it stops now. There will be no more looking at her sadly when you guys pass in the hallway and definitely no more attempts to defend her when we all talk. You need to accept the fact that she is a two-timing slag. The rest of us have accepting it so I don't see why you can't as well. I saw her in bed with Jonathan at that party. I saw them together. She knowingly slept with my boyfriend. And not only my boyfriend, but my boyfriend of two years. She threw away six years of friendship to seduce the boy that I love. Any decent person would know that it is not ok to feel bad for someone who does something like that. If you ever so much as offer her a sympathetic look or word again, your life will be over. Don't hesitate to think that I won't ruin you just like I ruined her," Victoria stated with malice._

_Mia was shocked and tried to gather her thoughts before she replied, "Look I understand what you are saying Vikki, but you can't honestly uphold that double standard. I mean you are still with Jonathan. I understand that Raven did something wrong and I have stood by you because you were wronged, but don't you think that she deserves a second chance? You gave Jonathan one."_

_"You have to be joking. What did you not understand about what I just said? You know as well as I do that Raven was perfectly sober at that party and that Jonathan had, had a lot to drink. We all know where the blame lies so let me make this a little clearer for you; if you so much as notice Raven from here on out then your relationship with Brent will be over, Colette and I will never speak to you again, and you will generally be treated worse that even Raven is being treated right now. And who knows if there is even another Lily Evans out there to reach out to you. No one will speak to or look at you, least of all Raven since she has seen the way you have treated her for the past two months," Victoria laughed._

_"I understand that you and Colette can stop talking to me, but you can't make the whole school hate me. You don't have the power to make Brent break up with me. He loves me, Vikki," Mia replied, losing her confidence with each word._

_"Honey, don't act surprised by what I can achieve. You forget how close Colette and Brent are and in turn how close Colette and I are. If I call in a favor from Colette she can turn Brent against you. Don't underestimate me or else it will be the last notable thing that you do. If I find out you mentioned this little talk to anyone then you will be sorely sorry. From now on, just do as I say to save your own hide and begin that path by no longer calling me Vikki. That nickname is only for true friends. Now hop back on over to your bed and let's pretend like this never happened. Colette should be back any minute," Victoria ordered._

Speechless, Mia did as she was told.

"I think that we are finally ready," Colette squealed, breaking Mia out of her thoughts. "See you later Mia. Have fun studying," Colette laughed as Victoria and she skipped out of the room, arm-in-arm.

* * *

"We should probably get going," Raven said, breaking Lily's train of thought while she scrubbed at a stain on her desk. "If that stain hasn't come off in your last ten minutes working on it then I don't think that it ever will," Raven laughed.

Lily laughed too and forced herself to stop worrying about tonight; she really needed the money and it honestly couldn't turn out as awful as the scenarios she had been building up in her head. "I guess you make a good point. Let's go."

The two girls, decadently dressed up in beat up jeans and t-shirts, descended the stairs to find James and Sirius reclining on the couches. The pair had firewisky and appeared to have already consumed a significant amount, despite the fact that there was still another ten minutes before the party was due to begin.

"Oi, Evans," Sirius shouted when he spotted Lily and Raven on the stairs. "Jamsie has a little pressie for you."

Lily rolled her eyes at Raven, who in turn nervously laughed. They joined the boys on the couch.

"Oh really and what might this present be?" Lily asked with disdain.

"A pretty bracelet," James slurred. "Remus, explain it one more time please."

Remus rolled his eyes at James and Sirius. "Sorry about them Lily. It is charmed bracelet that will get warm if an unauthorized person gets close to Gryffindor tower. The closer the person gets, the warmer the bracelet will get. It should help you watch out for James. Thanks for doing this by the way," Remus informed Lily, much more friendly than Sirius and James were being.

"That's really genius of you, Remus," Lily replied, taking the bracelet. Even though she wasn't into the whole party scene she had appreciation for the magic that Remus had done.

"It's nothing," Remus replied, blushing at the praise from Lily. "Anyways, I have to get a move on; Emma should be here any minute." Remus said bye to everyone, his eyes filling with guilt when they met Raven's eyes. He hoped that she saw how sorry he was even though he couldn't say anything.

"Remus and Emma are such bores!" Sirius shouted fondly after Remus. "They have no idea how to have a good time. You know all about good times don't you, Raven," Sirius sniggered and leered at her. James laughed as well, spilling firewisky on himself.

Raven blushed, but couldn't bring herself to defend her honor. Lily gave Sirius and James dirty looks and came to Raven defense, just as she had fallen into habit of doing for the past week, "You are one to talk about promiscuous behavior, Black. You both better think twice before you say anything or need I remind you that I can just as easily back out of the agreement and leave your already drunk selves in the capable hands of McGonagall. And to think you both are prided on being so smart. You are nothing more than dumb jocks."

Sirius and James just stared at Lily, a little in horror at the mention of McGonagall getting involved. "Apologize now," Lily demanded.

"Sorry Raven," James and Sirius both mutter, making Raven blush even more.

"Let's go Raven. We can sit over there and watch these two get piss drunk," Lily said, standing and walking away without waiting for Raven.

"They must be on their periods," James whisper-shouted to Sirius, laughing.

"Girls are always on their periods," Sirius sniggered in reply.

"Now why would two fine boys be talking about periods," Colette coo-ed as she appeared, sliding onto the couch next to James. "Do you lads need a lesson in female anatomy perhaps?" Colette asked.

"Oh yes," James replied, practically drooling on Colette.

"I think you will learn best through show and tell," Colette replied, taking James hand and pulling him off the couch with her. Let's find somewhere a little more nurturing to your studies. You're welcome to join," Colette called over her shoulder to Sirius as she pulled James through the room that was starting to fill with people.

"I'll let James enjoy this round to himself, but I may take you up on your offer later," Sirius replied as he eyes landed on the back of a pretty little redhead who he could have sworn that he had never made out with before. He got up from his seat and made his way over to her. "Mind if I sit?" Sirius asked, putting his "sexy" voice on.

"Actually yes," the girl replied, turning around to reveal a frowning Mia. "I have a boyfriend who happens to be exactly who I am looking for right now. Have you seen Brent?" Mia asked Sirius.

Sirius, inwardly groaning that his luck had caught him talking to Mia Billards, famous monogamist, shook his head. "I actually have to go," Sirius said, turning to go.

"What are you doing here?" Victoria sneered at Mia. "I thought you were studying. It figures that you would decide to come down here and run off the host of the party." Turning to Sirius she continued more friendly, "Sorry about Mia, Sirius. Have you seen Jonathan anywhere? I've been looking for him everywhere."

Sirius eyed Victoria; sure, she was in a relationship, but that had never stopped her before from fooling around on the side. "I haven't seen him, but I would be more than happy to keep you company until he comes along looking," Sirius replied, eying Victoria up and down.

Victoria laughed flirtatiously, enjoying the feeling of Sirius's eyes on her.

Mia watched, disgustedly as Victoria walked away with Sirius arms around her waster. She knew that she should have just stayed in her room; Victoria had made it perfectly clear what would happen if Mia brought their talk up with Brent. Mia turned to leave the party and was overcome with a wave of sadness when she saw Raven and Lily joking in the corner over cups of pumpkin juice. It used to be Raven and her joking over the ridiculous antics that Colette went through to get boys and about Victoria's daily freakouts. Now Raven had found a new friend and Mia was left being isolated from everyone including her own boyfriend.

Mia suddenly needed to be by herself. She couldn't stand the presence of all the people in the room. She needed to be alone. She rushed down the hallway towards the girls' dormitories, trying to hold back her tears. She rushed past Colette pressed up against the hallway wall by James as the pair made out. She rushed past some of the Gryffindor girls who had lagged in coming downstairs for the party. She rushed straight to her room and buried her face in her pillow, finally letting herself cry over what her life had become.

* * *

"I should probably go check on James again," Lily said as she looked at her watch. It was still only midnight, even though it seemed like the party had been going on for far longer than two hours. "We all know the happy couple is probably still lip locked it the exact same hallway location, but a job is a job," Lily sighed.

"I feel your pain," Raven laughed. "I'll be here when you get back."

"By the way, thanks for staying with me tonight. I don't know how I would handle the craziness of this party if you weren't here," Lily said, gesturing to the general chaos of the common room. "Anyways, I'll be right back." Lily got up and meandered towards where James had last been seen.

Left alone, Raven decided it was probably time to get some more drinks. She headed over to the bar and asked the house elf manning it for a goblet of pumpkin juice. The house elf gladly obliged and Raven turned to make her way back to her and Lily's spot when a grinding Sirius and Victoria bumped into her, spilling her pumpkin juice all over her and Victoria.

"You bitch," Victoria shouted when she looked up to find Raven the source of the juice. "You did that on purpose. Do you know how much this dress cost? More than you are worth."

"You are the one who bumped into me," Raven snapped, before she could stop herself. She felt strangely empowered to have finally defended herself.

"What did you say?" Victoria snarled. "You better apologize you slut. It isn't enough that you have to ruin my relationships, now you have to ruin my clothes as well. Is that what this is about?"

"Look Victoria, it was honestly an accident. Neither of us was looking where we were going," Raven replied, trying to calm Victoria down. Her knowledge of Victoria told her that if she didn't diffuse things right away then it was going to get quickly out of hand. A crowd had already began to gather and Raven couldn't stand all of their stares as her and Victoria stood in a face-off.

"I don't care whose fault you think it was Slade. You ruined this night just like you ruined last semester. Well Sirius is here for you to sleep with. That seems to be how things usually play out so why don't you just get it over with," Victoria continued to shout, while Sirius stood there with a combination of uncomfortable and bored expressed on his face.

"Victoria calm down. I'm not going to sleep with anyone," Raven whispered.

"What was that you said? You aren't going to sleep with anyone? I would have thought that was the case after you lost your virginity to Thomas Baker the summer before sixth year. You couldn't stop crying for a week after it happened," Victoria laughed cruelly. "And then you were such a bad shag that he broke it off with you two weeks later. And then came Brandon Meyer, Joseph Bower and lastly Jonathan, my Jonathan. You aren't going to sleep with anyone simply because no one wants to sleep with your cursed, disgusting self."

"You promised you would never tell anyone that Victoria. Why would you share the details of my sex life? We used to be friends. Doesn't that mean anything to you," Raven whimpered, on the verge of tears.

"Used to being the key words. I'm giving you exactly what friendship means to you. Go be someone else's home wrecker because I am so over your antics," Victoria replied.

"Last semester wasn't my fault. What don't you understand about that, Victoria," Raven begged, tears starting to form in her eyes. "What happened wasn't my fault."

"I don't see how it could be anyone fault, but yours. If you are going to do something like that, at least face up to it," Victoria snapped. "Now get out of my face. I need a drink."

"Can't you just hear my out?" Raven pleaded, tears openly flowing down her face.

"Are you seriously crying?" Victoria laughed. "Let's see: you won't drink, you are a total slut and now you are overemotional. What does that add up to? Are you pregnant or something? I hope so since that would be all the vindication I need."

Raven felt like she had been slapped across the face. Victoria had hit the nail right on the head and she didn't even know it. "You aren't even half the person I thought you were," Raven spat and turned to leave.

The entire crowd simply stared at her, including Lily, who had returned from checking on James. Raven ignored everyone and just continued to walk towards the girls' dorms. Lily silently followed her. "Are you ok? I mean obviously not, but is there something I can do," Lily quietly asked.

Raven paused. "I'd rather just be alone right now, but thank you Lily. You have your job anyway."

"Ok. I'll try and check on you later if I can get away. Don't do anything stupid and stop beating yourself up about what just happened. Victoria is a cruel bitch," Lily said and watched as Raven silently nodded and continued to walk away.

As Raven got to the hallway, Remus came out from the other end, bumping into her.

"Oh sorry," Remus said, looking up and making eye contact.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Way," Raven snarled at Remus.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way," Remus replied, quietly stepping aside.

"This is all your fault Remus Lupin. I will never forgive you for ruining my life. If I have any luck left, I hope you will never have a rested night for the rest of your life," Raven growled and shoved Remus with her shoulder as she passed.

Remus, instantly filled with guilt, wondered for the hundredth time if he should just tell Emma the truth so that Jonathan's words would have no more hold over him. He just needed more time, he kept telling himself, but the more time he gave himself, the worse off Raven seemed to become. He needed to stop being so selfish, but he couldn't make himself.

* * *

Lily returned to her corner where her and Raven had previously been sitting together. She felt an odd desire to go comfort Raven, but Raven had made it pretty clear that she wanted to nothing to do with anyone right now. Lily have even seen her cursing at Remus before she left the common room and Remus was not someone who people often cursed at.

The party was in full swing and Lily was already sick of it. She was tired of casually passing Colette and James in the hall every hour. She was sick of drinking pumping juice. She was exhausted from watching people grope each other in the center of the common room. She was weary from the smell of copious amounts of alcohol being consumed around her. She just wanted the night to finally be over so that she could crawl back into bed and sleep into the afternoon.

With Raven gone, Lily was even more bored than before. With no one to talk to and nothing to do, Lily put an additional charm on the bracelet that James had given her so that it would wake her up in an hour. With that covered, Lily curled up in the armchair she was occupying and somehow managed to drown out the party and fall into a light sleep.

* * *

Sirius was having the time of his life; he was in his element. After the showdown between Victoria and Raven had occurred, Sirius had ditched Victoria, finding her too emotional to deal with at the time. Her complaining had been seriously killing his buzz. From Victoria, Sirius had moved onto a pair of fifth year twins to dance with for a while. After the twins he had strung along a couple more girls, taking a select few for makeout sessions. By the time 3 AM was rolling around, the party was starting to dwindle out.

Sirius, acknowledging that it was probably time to call it quits, spotted Remus looking dreary by one of the windows and headed over to cheer up his mate.

"Oi Moony, why the long face?" Sirius asked as he plopped himself down on the ledge next to Remus.

"It's nothing mate," Remus replied, waving Sirius's concern off.

"Ah it's about the ladies, isn't it?" Sirius surmised.

"I guess you could say that," Remus chuckled sadly and wondered how his life had gotten so complicated.

"Well tell dear old Padfoot. He is oh so knowledgeable when it comes to that topic," Sirius said, putting on his philosopher's face. "Tell him of your woes."

"Only if you stop referring to yourself in the third person," Remus laughed in spite of himself. "It's about Emma," Remus began, decided to talk only about the thing he could really bring up to Sirius. There was no way his friends would understand the situation with Raven.

"Ah the girlfriend. The answer is simple: dump her and fly free," Sirius said, nodding with a loopy grin on his face.

"Sirius, be serious. I'm trying to have a real man to man talk," Remus sighed.

"Oh alright. All jokes are out the window. What about Emma is bothering you?" Sirius asked.

"It's my…condition. I need to tell her, but at the same time I can't," Remus confessed.

Sirius sighed, unable to keep the annoyance from it. Every time Remus started dating or even showed interest in someone, he instantly became hyper conscious about being a werewolf. Remus didn't see things in black and white like his friends did about his condition. To the Marauders, if someone didn't except Remus for who and what he was then that person was not worth knowing. "We've been over this Remus. You should tell Emma when you are ready and if she can't accept you for who and what you are then she doesn't deserve you. You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. It's not your fault," Sirius replied.

"I understand what you are saying, but you just don't understand what is like for me Padfoot. I don't know how to explain it, but things are more complicated than you, Prongs and Wormtail want make them out to be," Remus sighed.

"Just tell her. Whether or not she accepts it, you will feel relieved. Trust me," Sirius encouraged. "And whatever the outcome, you will always have us, the Marauders, at your back."

"Thanks," Remus replied, unsure what else to say. He really appreciated his friends' support, but sometimes he couldn't stand how simple they tried to make everything. "I'll try."

* * *

Lily's third alarm had gone off, signaling to her that it was 3 AM. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she noticed that only a few people were still mingling in the common room. She figured now was a good time to get James back to bed. She forced herself to once again climb out of the chair and go looking for James.

After searching for James for roughly fifteen minutes. She finally found him passed out on the stairwell up to the boys' dorms. She nudged him awake with her foot, glad to find that he was vomit free. "So did Colette just leave you here? How kind of her."

"Whaaa?" James asked confused, as he rolled over. "My back hurts."

Lily laughed, "No shit Sherlock. You were sleeping on the stairs. Not exactly something to make a chiropractor happy."

"I'm tried." James mumbled, obviously still drunk and half asleep.

"That's why I'm here to take you to bed. Now get up so that I can take you to your room," Lily instructed.

"I would, but my legs won't work," James complained and pouted up at Lily. She didn't know if it was her exhaustion or something else, but for the first time, she found James's puppy eyes actually somewhat endearing.

"Fine. Give me your arm," Lily directed and helped James to his feet. She allowed him to lean on her as she guided him up to his room.

"Wow. You are strong," James slurred.

"Sure am," Lily replied. She had always been rather athletic. As a kid, she was repeatedly taunted by boys of the same breed as James and therefore she had made toughening up a goal of hers since a young age. She wasn't a body builder or anything, but she could definitely hold her own in a fight, something she had done on several accounts, much to her parents' dismay.

Luckily James hadn't passed out far from his room and so the pair was soon at their destination. The door was unlocked and so Lily let them both in and guided James to his bed. Feeling like a mother she took off his shoes for him and pulled up his covers over him.

"Tuck me in?" James slurred, making puppy dog eyes at Lily again.

Lily laughed, "Only if you pay me. A deal is a deal."

James laughed and sobered up slightly. "There's some money over in my trunk. Just open up the bag and take what I owe you."

"Thanks," Lily said, counting out 45 galleons and putting the bag back. She tucked James in and turned to leave.

"Goodnight mommy," James said, grinning at Lily and she turned to him and gave him a weird look.

"Goodnight Potter," Lily replied and shut the door.

Lily returned to her room to find Raven and Colette both asleep. After confirming that they both truly were deep in slumber, Lily pulled out a charmed box from the bottom of her trunk and muttered the incantation to unlock it. Inside the box were Lily's most prized possessions: all of her money, her diary, the locket passed down to her from great grandmother, and a family picture taken when Lily was eight years old, before the fighting had started.

Lily pulled out the slip of paper that summarized her finances. Hogwarts cost 4,000 galleons per year. Lily was a scholarship student and therefore only had to pay 2,000 galleons a year. Her parents had covered her first three years of school before they had opted to pay for Petunia's private school instead, deeming it a better investment. Being a sixth year, Lily had so far racked up 6,000 galleons in tuition expenses alone, which did not include books and other required goods. Babysitting during the summers and breaks had allowed Lily to pay off 2,000 galleons of her debts and cover her other essential costs, but she still owed the loan company 4,000 galleons for tuition and she only had until the end of the year to cover half of it or else she would be forced to drop out of Hogwarts. That left her with roughly 5 months to come up with 2,000 galleons.

Lily added the 45 galleons she had made into her moneybag that already contained a mere 200 galleons. That meant she still needed 1,755 galleons. As much as she hated to do it, Lily started hoping that James and Sirius would start hosting a lot more parties. She put all her belongings back into her trunk and crawled into bed. She flipped off the light and drifted into sleep.

* * *

A/N – And the fourth chapter is done. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review! I love reviews. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but I do have three prelims (college exams) coming up. I think that I have been doing relatively good with updating and I will try and keep that up.

Until next time

~fanglesspsycho~


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